Just to Live

Deciding that the glass windows on the first floor needed a good cleaning, Tabitha dodged past the other maids in the supply closet and grabbed the bucket filled of essential tall and large window cleaning products. She strolled into the dining room merrily, but gasped as soon as she touched into it. She mistakenly walked in on Matthew and his father and they looked as though they were engaged in an important and serious talking session.

Out of sheer embarrassment, she scrambled out the room and into the kitchen. Catching her breath, she cursed at everyone who had forgotten to tell her that Matthew’s father was going to pay his son a little visit.

From the dining room, Matthew’s father—Gary—walked into the kitchen to put his plate in the sink and wash it. While there, he found Tabitha putting away the cleaning products. Once she did and closed the door to the supply closet, she walked over to the sink where Gary stood.

“I’ll wash your dishes for you, sir,” she said.

Gary shook his head, pouring a droplet of dishwashing liquid onto the sponge. “It’s okay. It’s only a plate. You’re probably busy enough.”

She looked at him. “…Thank you sir.”

He smiled genuinely at her, but it wasn’t the usual kind smile. Only a man with wisdom could flash a smile that large without that looking ridiculous.

Since the coast was clear and no one was around, Tabitha ran up to the third floor, straight into her room, but accidentally pushed past Zacky. Slightly startled, but a little more curious, Zacky walked into her room and knocked on the door. Tabitha raised her head towards the direction of the door and sniffled.

Zacky frowned. He sat on her bed with her and touched her shoulder. She shrugged away and walked out the room as fast as she could without actually running.

Zacky grit his teeth. “Tabitha, come back here.” He hated that he had “power” above her. It felt so wrong. Either way, she obliged and sat back down on her bed.

“Why are you crying?” Zacky asked in a softly.

Tabitha sniffled. “No reason.”

“That’s a lie. Are you on your period?”

‘Geez, all personal with it,’ she said to herself.

She muttered, “No.”

“So tell me. We can’t have our employees crying can we? It’s unhealthy.”

She sighed, giving in. It didn’t look like Zacky was going to leave her alone.

“Matthew’s father reminds me of my own.”

Zacky’s curiosity peaked. “Oh yeah? How so?”

“My father used to wash the dishes all the time when it was my chore. It’s something small but it reminded me of him.”

“Oh…”

“I hate my father,” she suddenly admitted. “He left our family because he couldn’t handle having one. Pathetic ass excuse.”

He wondered where the sudden anger arose from. Tabitha usually was the quiet girl who always had a book with her whenever she had the time to read it. It was then that Zacky realized something. “Have you ever talked about this?” he questioned like a therapist.

“No…and I shouldn’t have told you. I have to get back,” she mumbled in a rush.

Zacky watched sadly as the young girl wiped her cheeks clean of any tears and ran out the room. After he knew she wasn’t near, he descended the stairs and walked towards the dining room where he knew Matthew and his father was. For some reason, he felt that he couldn’t barge into the room. He felt the need to eavesdrop.

“Is she one of your new employees?” Gary asked.

“Yeah,” Matthew breathed. “That’s Tabitha. Get this; she’s been out on the streets with her mom and sister for three years. If I didn’t give her the job, she would still be out there.”

A low whistle escaped Gary’s lips. “Man, that’s gotta be tough on a kid that young. Are you treating her good?”

“I think more than good.” Matthew felt uncomfortable at the next bit of information he revealed. “Dad, she’s 18 and I like her…a lot. It feels so wrong. I’m almost fucking 30. It’s so wrong.”

‘That’s new,’ Gary thought to himself, but he wasn’t as shocked as he should have been.

“I’d agree with you except she’s 18 and legal. You can’t help how you feel. And knowing you, you don’t like prissy immature girls. Tabitha is probably really mature for her age.”

“She definitely is. I love how she spends her free time reading instead of getting a tan or whatever. Whenever she’s really into a book, her eyes get so much bigger and she a cute smile on her face.”

Matthew sighed and seemed to hold attention to something else in the room. Gary looked around, thinking Tabitha had to cut through the room again. When he found nothing that would snare Matthew’s concentration, he realized what was wrong with his son.

“Matt, you sound like you fell for her.”

“And a stalker,” Zacky chuckled to himself.

“What? No,” Matthew firmly denied.

“I’m just saying. Did you try having a relationship with her?”

“Not yet, no. I want to know her more and I want her to trust me.”

“That takes time you know.”

“Yeah I know. I don’t have patience though. It kinda sucks.”

“Sure. Just don’t try to push yourself on her. It won’t work,” Gary advised, patting his son’s shoulder.

“Dad, I’m 29. I think I would know that.”

“Hey, it’s a precaution. Ah, I gotta go. Your mom wants me home by eight for dinner.”

“I won’t tell her you had pie here.”

“Oh good. She’d probably kill me.”

Matthew chuckled. “Alright dad, I’ll see you next week at the concert.”

When Matthew returned to the dining room, Zacky emerged from his hiding spot and sat next to Matthew.

Matthew was about to ask what Zacky needed, but Zacky beat him to the chase. He needed to get straight to the point. “Did you know she has a lot of resentment towards her father?”

“No…I don’t talk to her that much.”

“She was crying in her room today and she told me her dad left their family because he didn’t know how to raise one.” As Zacky finished his information exchange, he couldn’t help but to feel a strong dislike towards Tabitha’s father.

“Holy shit, he’s a bitch.”

“That’s not the point. That’s got to be really tough on her.”

“Yeah…”

Zacky shrugged. “Do something about it.”

“But what am-”

“Release some anger,” Zacky emphasized.

Matthew raised his eyebrow. What did Zacky mean by “release some anger”? He didn’t have any pent up anger. Tabitha was the one who was sad and resentful. How could-

“Duh!” he said to himself, gaining an epiphany. He took his cell phone from out of his pocket and searched for the always-reliable person’s number he could get in contact with whenever he needed guidance.